Frédéric Piguet SA — historical movement manufacturer

Family establishment and uncertain origin year

Blancpain places Louis-Elisée Piguet’s original establishment between 1858 and 1860, preferring 1859 without treating it as certain. The establishment later bore Frédéric Piguet’s name; Jacques was Frédéric’s son and led the family firm by 1982.

The history describes a Vallée de Joux business supplying complex movements to other watch companies. The English Blancpain paragraph and caption disagree over whether Louis-Elisée was Jacques’s grandfather or great-grandfather. 2

Jacques Piguet and the Blancpain venture

Blancpain’s account dates Jacques Piguet’s acquisition of the Blancpain name from SSIH to 1982. The account gives the separate 1983 Blancpain venture 48% each for Jacques Piguet and Jean-Claude Biver, and 4% for Michel Favre.

Grail Watch dates the Piguet–Biver Blancpain acquisition to 1981, differing from the 1982 first-party account. Grail Watch describes the new Blancpain watches as a market for Frédéric Piguet’s mechanical movements, with Edmond Capt contributing movement development. 23

Group ownership and integration

The same account dates the sale of both businesses to SMH to 1992. Swatch Group’s 11 May 2010 announcement says Frédéric Piguet SA would be integrated into Blancpain and renamed Manufacture Blancpain with immediate effect.

Blancpain’s magazine instead identifies 1 July 2010 as the date of full official integration. The 2010 corporate announcement locates Frédéric Piguet SA at Le Sentier. 21

Representative movement lineage

The same synthesis identifies Frédéric Piguet’s 1185 chronograph calibre with Blancpain’s late-1980s chronograph development. Grail Watch associates Louis-Elisée Piguet with nineteenth-century grand-complication work including La Merveilleuse. 32